SPIRITUAL LAW IN
THE NATURAL WORLD:
CHAPTER X,
AMONG THE CREATURES.
PERHAPS, for my own credit, I ought to stop here. Perhaps
even for the cause I hope to serve - which is very much to lead others to
appreciate more Gods gift to us of the creatures, and the full purpose of
this gift of God, - I might better stop, content with what awakening of desire
I may hope to have achieved, than go further to show how small the distance I
have travelled in these inviting fields. I confess that with me that impulsive
self of which the Duke of Argyll has spoken to us, may be refusing the voice of
that calm higher wisdom which ought to be rather heard, when I attempt to face
the difficulties of the practical application of such principles as we have
been considering, and lead my reader face to face with Nature.
Let it
be conceded that we have obtained some real glimpse of the divine side in her,
- heard a Voice from its very familiarity strange from such a quarter, - a
Voice yet which sounds as a voice of home wherever we hear it, - have got
principles, too, which have not only stood wonderfully the tests to which we
have been putting them, granting all which must be in fairness granted, yet we
seem little furnished, after all, for what evidently now lies before us. These
types of nature, though real, are yet but very slightly sketched; their inner
meaning, for which, Spiritual Law would say, they must above all exist, is yet
more a hint than a revelation; other principles, yet unknown, may (and very
likely will) come in to modify the application of those we have in measure
learned.* All this is true, and yet we must go forward. "Every one that seeketh
findeth" is a motto we may still take for our encouragement. And have we not,
in fact, found much while on the road? It may be that our Fathers book of
Nature, like His other book of Grace, requires less the learning of the sage to
read it than the teachable spirit of the little child.
*Thus it is to be
remarked, that no one must suppose that we are giving hasty adhesion to the
whole system of Messrs. McLeay & Swainson. We believe there is truth in it;
but that is very far from saying that it is the whole truth: we neither accept
it wholly nor, on the other hand condemn it for defects or mistakes, which
adhere to all that is merely human. In the work and Word of God alone there are
none.
One of the first places in which we find our father Adam before
the fall is among the creatures "And out of the ground the Lord God formed
every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto
Adam, to see" - that Adam might see - "what he would call them; and whatsoever
Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave
names to all cattle, and to every fowl of the air, and to every beast of the
field."
So that one of mans first lessons was a lesson of
zoology; for the giving names to all the creatures surely implies intelligence
about them; and the names stood for qualities in them that might be and were
discerned. Adam was possessor of no language but his own, and could not hide in
magniloquent Greek, as do our zoologists now, the emptiness of an unmeaning
name. Could we recall, as we cannot now, those first names, we should surely
find convincing proof that Adam was a full-grown man, and that nature appealed
to him in a different way from that in which now it appeals to us, from our
textbooks of zoology. Indeed, the Hebrew names, which must be no very far off
kin to Adams, may well contain plenty of treasure in this way awaiting
the explorer. Since then, we have dissected the forms, and too much lost the
life and power.
However, we will not theorize: we will go abroad and
breathe the fresh air of Gods world, in which let us remember, not a
sparrow falls to the ground without Him, and He clothes the lilies of the field
with a glory beyond Solomons. Our interest in it may well be inspired by
His interest and that which we find of Him in it be in truth but fellowship
with Him.
Supposing still that what is written largest should be the
plainest, and desiring to get, as the introduction to all else, the general
plan of creation, let us take up the animal kingdom briefly now, to study its
divisions - of course, the largest ones.
The types of which we have been
speaking apply only to the divisions of the animal kingdom; but the numerical
system, as we have seen, goes beyond this, and characterizes all nature. We may
take it at least as a fixed principle, that wherever the numbers are, they are
meant to speak to us; they have a reason in the divine, and a reason open to be
discovered by us to an extent practically unlimited, except by unbelief.
Whatever is of reason is meant as an appeal to reason, Gods written Word
being always the interpreter of the obscure and parabolic utterances of the
book of nature. This we shall find, the more firmly we grasp it, and the more
faithfully we adhere to it, to be proportionately fruitful as a principle I
appeal to the reader if we have not found it so.
The kingdoms of nature
are not five, nor three, but four. The, organic kingdoms are, however, three;
but they do not constitute a circle. On the other hand, their 3 and 1 speak, as
we have seen, of the manifestation of the Creator in the creature, and justify
our search into it that we may find Him in it. An unmeaning act would not be
worthy of Him: we will not ascribe such to Him.
Are there five types of
form in the animal kingdom? To this, of course, there will be various answers.
We do not propose to discuss them. The tendency now is away from the thought of
original types at all. A mindless evolution, of course, would work in its own
blind way
"Experience has shown," says Dawson, "that those naturalists who
discard the idea of intelligent plan as embodied in nature, and who regard it
as a mere chance product of conflicting forces and tendencies, necessarily
arrive at irrational modes of classification."
Cuvier divided animals
into four main groups, basing this upon plan of structure. These divisions are
those of Vertebrates, Articulates, Mollusks, and Radiates. Prof. Henry James
Clark has, in his "Mind in Nature," elaborately argued for a fifth division,
commonly conceded now, that of Protozoa; and it is this arrangement, I propose
to take up and examine in the light of what knowledge we have already gained.
We will arrange them thus: -
I. Vertebrata.
5. Mollusca. 2.
Articulata.
4. Radiata. 3. Protozoa.
If this be a circle, as we
have been told it must be, to form a natural arrangement we may begin to trace
the circle at any point within it. We will begin, therefore, with the simplest
because the lowest form, the Protozoan.
"The type of this
division," says Prof. Clark, "is found in its relation to a spiral; it is the
oblique or spiral type."
Of this he gives many examples, entering into
details, as to which it would be, for our purpose, wholly useless to follow
him. The simple fact is what interests us; because the spiral type is (as
revealed by the arrangement of the leaves and flowers) that of the vegetable
kingdom and the number (3) attached is that of the vegetable kingdom. In this,
also, the lowest division among animals, are found the forms actually nearest
to the plants, which, strangely as one might think, approach the animal-
kingdom most nearly in their lowest forms.
The forms here are mostly
microscopic, and reveal their structure only to the skilled observer. It is no
.wonder, therefore, that this should be in debate; nor is it possible for us
here to take part in these discussions even if we had (as we have not)
competency for them. We must refer those who desire it to Prof. Clarks
book.
In their minute size, the Protozoa are certainly in contrast to Mr.
Swainsons remarks on aquatic types, although they are aquatic. He puts
them, indeed, in his fourth group accordingly, along with the zoophytes
(corals, etc.); but this we shall have to look at when we come to these. As
putting them in this third division, we have the facts simply of their being at
the furthest remove from typical forms, of which there is no doubt, and their
spiral structure, and other assimilation to vegetable forms. But of these lowly
beings we know too little to be able to speak with much understanding.
Still, even here, we may find facts of a most curious interest, though
through this relation to the vegetable rather than any proper insight into the
nature of these animalcules. Can we find any "spiritual law" in a spiral type?
The leaf arrangement of the plant may suggest some answer, strangely connected
as it seems with the courses of the stars! But is it not all one universe, the
work of One Hand? Have we not been taught that one mysterious law links the
fall of the apple with the courses of the stars? It is simple and familiar
knowledge.
Prof. Cooke shall give us, from his well-known book,* the
law in question.
*"Religion and Chemistry." (Revised edition, pp. 271-275)
"If we compare the periods of revolution [of the planets] round the sun,
expressed in days, we shall find an other simple numerical relation, as shown
by the following table: -
"It will be noticed that the period of Uranus is half that
of Neptune, the period of Saturn a third that of Uranus, the period of Jupiter
about two fifths that of Saturn, the period of the Asteroids about three
eighths that of Jupiter, the period of Mars about five thirteenths that of the
Asteroids, the period of Venus about eight twenty-firsts that of Mars, and the
period of Mercury about thirteen thirty-fourths that of Venus. The successive
fractions are very simply related to each other, as will at once appear on
writing them in a series: - 1/2, 1/3 2/5, 3/8, 5/13, 8/21, 13/34, etc. "Notice
that after the first two, each succeeding fraction is obtained by adding
together the numerators of the two preceding fractions for a new numerator.
From this series, however, the earth is excluded. Its time of revolution is
almost exactly eight thirteenths that of Mars, and that of Venus nearly
thirteen twenty-firsts that of the earth; but although these fractions do not
fall into the above series, they are members of a complementary series
beginning -
½, 2/3, 3/5, 5/8, 8/13, 13/21, etc;
"This
simple relation was discovered by Prof. Peirce, and he has proposed an
explanation for the anomaly presented by the earth. But it is not important to
dwell on this point. My only object has been to show that simple numerical
relations appear in the planetary system, and this, as I trust, has been fully
illustrated."
One moment, to indulge the theological fancy of a mind
intoxicated if you will, with reason. I have no spiritual understanding of the
formula here, and can say nothing as to it; but this exceptional relation of
the earth does seem as if it might be a note of - is certainly in strange
accordance with - its exceptional relation spiritually to the other creatures
of God, is it not?
Then notice, - "for ye suffer. fools gladly, seeing
ye yourselves are wise," - that, after all, the earth is reduced to obedience
to law: it is not left to be an anomaly among the planets, but brought back,
may we not say? And how? By a new beginning and a new law, Which none less
falls at last into harmony with the old older!! Is it hot what grace has at any
rate actually done for us?
Further, look back a little. Behind Mars we
find in the table that strange group of asteroids, which always has seemed to
me, and I suppose to others, suggestive of catastrophe among the stars; they
seem so like shattered fragments of a world that was. Here, in a general way,
however, the order is maintained, but among them, as we may say, not by them.
You have to find an average among many divergences, as if law bound them only
as reigning spite of opposition. Was there not indeed a break like this, before
the earth left its orbit, when the angels rebelled?
And yet then there
was no new beginning! That began with - earth? No! but with a planet standing
in its right place in the former order of things, as Mars stands between the
asteroids and the earth, while it begins the new one! Blessed be God! there is
indeed One come into the ranks of the obedient, new head of blessing for a
restored earth, with whom all begins again! Reader, have you owned His name,
and taken your place in the new order of things harmonious with the old? Will
you believe a gospel which the stars, in the light of the science of the day,
preach so convincingly?
Well, we have wandered: we will return. Do you
know that it was only Mr. Cookes tables, and his exposition of them, that
just now led me into what are new thoughts to me entirely, and the impulse to
give them to you, reader, I have not cared to resist. If all else is full of
it, must there not be a gospel also of the stars?
But to proceed with
Prof. Cooke: -
"Passing now to the vegetable kingdom, we find again the
same numerical laws. The leaves of a plant are always arranged in spirals round
the stem. If we start from any one leaf, and count the number of leaves around
the stalk, and the number of turns of the spiral until we come to a second leaf
immediately over the first, -we find that, for any given plant, as an apple
tree, for example, the number of leaves and the number of turns of the spiral
are always absolutely the same. The simplest arrangement is where the
coincidence occurs at the second leaf, after a single turn of the spiral; and
this may be expressed by the fraction 1/2, whose numerator denotes the number
of turns of the spiral, and whose denominator the number of leaves. The next
simplest arrangement is where the coincidence occurs at the third leaf, after a
single turn of the spiral, and may be expressed by the fraction 1/3. These two
fractions express respectively the greatest and the smallest divergence between
two successive leaves which has been observed. The angle between two successive
leaves, therefore, is greater than 180° or half the circumference of the
stem, or less than 120° or one third of the circumference. The arrangement
next in simplicity is where the coincidence occurs at. the fifth leaf, after
two turns of the spiral, as is represented in the preceding figures. Other
examples are given in the table which follows, and it will be seen that we have
precisely the same series of fractions in the arrangement of leaves round the
stem of a plant which appears in the periods of the planets. The fractions of
this series are all gradual approximations to a mean fraction between 1/2 and
1/3, which would give the most nearly uniform distribution possible to the
leaves, and expose the greatest surface to the sun."
Thus the Hand that
has arranged the leaves of the plants has arranged also the courses of the
planets. But the analogy is not seen at its fullest yet. For the orbits of the
planets are said to be elliptic, while the line that would connect the leaves
of a plant is spiral?. But if we take into account that the sun, with all its
planets attending, is moving through space in an orbit, doubtless of its own,
(for every thing in the heavens is obedient to law,) then these elliptical
orbits become, in fact, spiral paths, and the analogy between the vegetable and
the planetary world is perfected.
What, is the spiritual meaning of the
spiral, so interpreted? In the planet, it is onward progress; in the plant,
upward; - orbital, we may say, in each case, or obedient to the centre; in the
plant, a law of growth, of development and production How well fitted to this
third place in which we find it in the Protozoan! Here, indeed, in minute
forms, as if to teach us lowliness as the accompaniment of this upward
tendency. It is in our littleness we climb Godward, and, blessed be God! it is
in obedience, and as connected with our Centre also, that we do this.
Sanctification for us is the ascending spiral: holiness is heavenliness Can
these lowest of creatures tell us this?
However we must defer the final
answer till we have competed the zoologic circle. Until we find the connection,
Mr. Swainson would tell us we can not put in its place any member of it. Let us
go on to the -
RADIATA.
Here we find Mr. Swainsons third
division, along with a part also of his fourth, under the name of Acrita, which
includes the corals and other animals formerly called Zoophytes, as well as
those of the last division. Prof. Clark, whose arrangement is followed here,
preserves the old Cuvierian division, with the separation only of the Protozoa
from them.
The type of form is indicated by the name.
A TYPICAL RADIATE: THREE POLYPES OF RED
CORAL
"There is a regular disposition of parts around a common
centre, as in the star-fish or the sea-anemone, which in the most
characteristic forms are but repetitions of each other; and one or more of them
may be removed without injury to the functions of the rest. In most of parts so
lost are replaced by a new growth; and not unfrequently it would appear that
these parts may themselves reproduce the whole structure."
In this last
respect they show, it has been said, an affinity with the vegetable kingdom, as
also in their circular symmetry, so that they have been sometimes called "the
flowers of the animal kingdom," - nay, in old time, were mistaken often for
flowers. As our fourth division, however, they stand opposite the Mineral
Kingdom, and radial symmetry is as well that, of the crystal (as in the
snow-flake,) as it is that of the plant. It is in this division also that we
find the corals accumulating their masses of actual stone. This coral is an
internal, not an external secretion, and forms the support as well as the
retreat of the polype. The urchins and sea-stars crust themselves over with
calcareous tests. The animal functions are almost at their lowest sensation and
motion are alike torpid.*
*Here indeed, there seems a contrast with the
activity ascribed by Mr. Swainson to the ." suctorial" type; but it will be
observed that he limits ins remarks as to this to the Vertebrata. The number
says nothing as to it.
It will be noted, on the other band, that the
capability of division which characterizes the Radiate is strictly according to
their numerical Place. Four is the first number that is capable of division.
Thus their numerical place seems fully justified. The number 4 speaks of
weakness and passiveness, for which the strength. of the rock is their defence
not only outwardly, as we have seen, but inwardly, - strength imbibed and
experienced, their own and yet not their own. Thus it is that the true
experience of the strength of the Rock - Of divine strength - does not make
something of us, but every thing of God. We remain what we ever were.
"Confidence in the flesh" is broken, and all self-confidence is recognized as
confidence in the flesh.
In the urchins and sea-stars, external; but
they are not now considered typical of the Radiata.
Here we may
encounter easily the reproach of torpidity and passiveness, such as we find in
the Radiate. Sensation and motion may seem at a low ebb. In fact, the
apprehension of God for us gives quietness and patience; and if "patience have
her perfect work," we are "perfect and entire, wanting nothing." There ensues
the stillness which is so little understood, and for which even the Marthas of
their own kindred turn upon the Marys sitting at His feet, and rebuke, them
solemnly before the Lord. But it is not spiritlessness, nor carelessness, only
the controlling power of His presence over the soul; and He will justify
it.
Good will it be if we get fast hold of the lesson given us by these
lowly creatures. If the sluggard may get his lesson from the ant, the restless
heart may learn of the coral blossom. from the rock. God has filled nature with
these pictures, preaching to the eye, though, alas! having eyes, we see not.
But we must go on. The fifth class, for Mr. Swainson and for
ourselves, is now the Mollusk. The Mollusc
plainly reach up toward the Vertebrata, and in character
are intermediate between these and the Radiata. The repetition of parts and the
radial symmetry are gone the body of the Mollusk is "monomerous" - an
indivisible unit: On the other hand the sluggishness of movement in general
remains the animal functions being only somewhat more developed than in the
last case "The body of the Mollusca is almost entirely occupied by the organs
of nutrition and the organs of sensation and locomotion are entirely
subservient to the supply of These. We find in the lowest tribes of this group
living beings which are fixed to one spot during all but the earliest period of
their lives, and n which scarcely possess within themselves so much power of
movement as that enjoyed by the individual polypes in a mass of coral; and yet
these exhibit a powerful and complex. digestive apparatus; a regular
circulation of blood, and an active respiration. But we nowhere find,
throughout. the whole animal kingdom, that the conformation of these organs
governs the shape of the body; they rather adapt themselves to the type which
predominates its structure, and which is principally manifested in the
disposition of the locomotive organs Thus the stomach of the star-fish sends a
prolongation into each ray, whilst in the Articulata, on the other hand we find
the digestive cavity prolonged into a tube, in accordance with the form which
the body there possess.
"Thus we see that, in regard to external shape
and arrangement, the apparatus of organic life has no definite plan of its own,
and in the Mollusca there is an absence of any general type to which it may be
made conformable. Hence the shape of the body varies extremely in those classes
in which it is entirely or principally composed of these organs, and no general
character can be given which shall apply to all or even a large part of the
animals composing them." (Carpenters Zoology.)
In a large part of
the sub-kingdom, while the body is thus, as one may say, shapeless, what gives
them, for the mass, most of the interest they possess, is the often large and
curiously made shell, on account of which they are familiarly known as
"shell-fish." The beauty of form and colour which is lacking in the animal
itself is bestowed upon the shell and yet for the animal itself, except as
shelter the shell is of small account apparently; and all this elaborate
ornamentation seems thrown away. The shell after the death of the animal, is
all that remains to recognize it by, as the body (as conveyed by the name of
the group) is entirely soft, and passes away, the shell, on the other hand,
abiding quite untouched.
Thus the 4 and 1 are easily recognizable in
this sub-kingdom. The bodily weakness and the rock shelter of the Radiate find
place in the Mollusk, which rises yet into an indivisible unity quite opposite
to what we find, in the other, developing in the higher forms head-characters,
and even an internal cartilaginous sheath for the nerve-centres, which
assimilates these animals to the Vertebrata.
But what about the
numerical stamp in its inner meaning ? - how holds the spiritual law again in
regard to this number 5, which seems at first sight as if it would be so little
capable of application to these lower creatures? Let us see if we can under
stand it.
The number 5 has, as we have seen, for its fundamental meaning
the thought of man in his weakness in relation to the almighty God. We have
seen it as the centre of all harmony for man to be here in his place, in
creature-nothingness, but with God his God. Christ, in His name "Emmanuel,"
brings these two together, - is, for man, this God in relationship, his
strength, his, hiding-place. How beautifully does the feeble Mollusk in his
shelter speak of that!
Not, however, as one might at first think, the
lesson of the Radiate over again. The strength that is found in weakness there
images a strength which is imbibed and internal. The rock that shelters there
is yet within (in what is most typical). Only in the Mollusk is it really apart
from, though in intimate companionship with, the being that it shelters. "Thou
art my hiding place," - "Thou hast been our dwelling-place, (Ps. xxxii. 7; xc.
i,) is only fully brought out in this type, of form. Here, how true it is that
the Mollusk hides itself in its shell! not merely as its refuge, let us
remember, but as giving all the glory to its place of refuge! How exquisite, in
this light, are the painting and sculpture of these beauteous shells! For - let
us remember again - it is the Mollusk that makes its shell; and so do we, by
our own receptivity of the divine revelation, (as the being we are considering,
by its receptivity of light and air and food, the divine provision for it,)
make, each for himself, the One we go with.
Let us not wonder, then,
at the great variety, and difference as to beauty, of these shells; or that
there are naked Mollusks also, wanderers from their type. Nature depicts for
us, not merely what is normal, but the whole range of what exists. And with
which of us is the God he goes with the all glorious God He ought to be? How
blessed yet to be able, in our measure, to glorify Him! Let the being that
adorns its shell and not itself show us what is the sure sign of one who walks
with God. And let the weak and perishable nature of the being that takes refuge
in the shell, compared with the permanence and beauty of the shell itself, warn
us how the glory of man shall perish, but the glory of the Lord abide forever!
We must not leave the Mollusk,, however, before we have noted that that
which is developed in it is, above all, the nutritive function. Digestion is
everywhere its strongest point, as we have seen: it is made up for this, if we
may say so; and this is of the very simplest application in relation to the
spiritual idea which governs it - of which it is the: expression. We must
receive from Him to whom we give, for of His own :alone do we give to Him. She
who had the box of ointment for Christs head is that Mary who had her
place first at His feet; and if we are to imitate her in the last, we must
acquire competence where she did. It is a good part which shall not be taken
away, although the service to which it leads may be as little appreciated, even
by disciples, as was hers.
In the order in which we have been proceeding,
the next group to be considered would be the Vertebrata; but as this is the
most comprehensive type of all, and needs to be compared with all the rest, we
shall approach it now from the other side, and for this purpose take up
first the -
ARTICULATA.
A
TYPICAL ARTICULATE.
These constitute; for Mr. Swainson and ourselves, the
second or subtypical group, - a most distinct and easily comprehended, as well
as excessively numerous one. What with insects, crustacea, and worms, its
numbers exceed that of. all the other sub-kingdoms put together. According to
the character ascribed by Mr. Swainson to the subtypical groups, we shall be
prepared to find it the most aggressive and destructive of all types; but, as
we have already hinted, we must not limit it, therefore, to what is significant
of evil. Strife and destruction, though incident to an evil state, of course,
are not necessarily therefore themselves evil: far from it. Christ came that He
might "destroy the works of the devil," and "him that hath the power of death,
- that is, the devil" himself. And we are all enlisted in this strife;
Christs people are His soldiers, and must "war a good warfare," "fight
the fight of faith," "contend earnestly," "wrestle with principalities and
powers." And though "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal," yet are they
"mighty through God; to the pulling down of strongholds."
The number 2
is stamped upon the Articulata in the most perfect way. In them, bilaterality
is most perfectly developed from the head to the extremity of the body, while
the whole animal is divided into rings, which consist of an upper and an under
arch, each of four pieces arranged in pairs on each side of the middle line.
Eight pieces give us thus the cube of 2.
"The different rings or segments
of the body always bear a strong resemblance to each other, and sometimes, as
in the Julus [wire-worm] and the Scolopendra or Centipede, they seem like
actual repetitions of each other. Each ring may bear two pairs of appendages,
or members." (Carpenter.)
"The tendency to repetition exhibited by the
segments of the body is as remarkable in the, disposition of the muscles and of
the nervous system as it is in the arrangement of the general envelope. In most
animals of this sub-kingdom, each ring in its complete state possesses a pair
of nervous ganglia, united, on the central line; and these ganglia are
connected together by a double cord of communication which runs along the lower
or ventral surface of the body.
"The muscles, like the parts of the body
themselves, are arranged with great regularity and exactness on the two sides
of the median or central line; so that the lateral symmetry of the Articulata
is most exact. Where the segments and their appendages have a similar form and
action, their muscles are but repetitions of each other."
"The alimentary
tube frequently passes straight along the central line, from one extremity of
the body to the other, with a dilatation near its commencement, - the stomach;
and where this is not the case, the convolutions which the intestines make are
usually few in number. Instead of a heart, we find a dorsal vessel - a long
tube placed on the central line of the back, and divided into segments,
corresponding with those of the body, - each segment being, as it were, the
heart for its own division. The respiratory apparatus, too, is arranged with
the most perfect symmetry."
We have before suggested the connection of
this bilateral symmetry with power of movement. Here, as necessarily among what
are pre-eminently Natures warriors, we find the greatest activity.
"The development of the organs of nutrition in articulated animals would seem
to be altogether subservient to that of the locomotive apparatus ; - their
function being chiefly to supply the nerves and muscles with the ailment
necessary to sustain their vigour. The power of these muscles is so great, in
proportion to their size, that, in energy and rapidity of movement, some of the
articulated tribes surpass all other animals."
When we remember the
ants, the white ants, the bees, etc., we realize that social instincts also are
developed in a striking manner among these, and in the ants find specialized
warrior-forces acting like a trained host. A large proportion of the whole
group, as the crabs, beetles, wire-worm, centipede, have their coats of mail
also for defence. Thus the spiritual idea which reigns among the Articulata is
not hard to trace. That it is in complete harmony with their numerical place
needs also no insisting on. The general thought is all that we can here trace:
for details, we have no room; but there is here a fruitful field for any who
will labour in it.
We come now, lastly, to what is first in position among
these types, - that of the -
VERTEBRATA.
The Vertebrata
are, as every one knows, so called from their possession of a jointed column
inclosing the spine, the skull being only an expansion of the same in order to
protect the brain in like manner. Brain and spine, rather than the bony case
which environs them, are really the distinctive characters of these highest of
the Animal Kingdom.
COMPARATIVE DIAGRAM OF VERTEBRATA (B) AND
INVERTEBRATA (A)
(a) Body-wall (b) Alimentary Canal. (c) Circulatory System
(n) Sympathetic Nervous System; (?) Cerebro-Spinal Nervous System
"In all
Invertebrate animals, without exception," says Prof. Nicholson, "the body may
be regarded as a single tube, inclosing all the viscera; and consequently, in
this case, the nervous system is contained within the general cavity of the
body, and is not in any way shut off from the alimentary canal. The transverse
section, however, of the Vertebrate animal exhibits two tubes, one of which
contains the great masses of the nervous system, - that is, the cerebro-spinal
axis, or brain and spinal cord - whilst the other contains the alimentary canal
and the chief circulatory organs, together with certain portions of the nervous
system known as time ganglionic or sympathetic system.
Leaving the cerebro-spinal centre out of sight for a moment, we see that the
larger or visceral tube of the Vertebrate animal contains the digestive canal,
the hmal system, and the gangliated nervous system. Now this is exactly
what is contained in the visceral cavity of any of the higher invertebrate
animals; and it follows from this, as pointed out by Von Baer, that it is the
sympathetic nervous system of Vertebrates which is truly comparable to, and
homologous with, the nervous system of Invertebrates. The cerebro-spinal
nervous centres of the Vertebrata are to be regarded as something superadded,
and not represented at all among the Invertebrata."
It is clear that
this additional part is that which governs the whole, moreover. Without being
able to attribute to the brain the mental power ascribed to it by Dr.
Carpenter, we may assuredly see in it a means of concentrating and combining
the powers existing in those storehouses of nerve-force which we find in the
ganglionic centres which make up the whole nerve-system of Invertebrates. And
thus a unity of control is established over every part which we do not find in
the latter, - a unity which is to be discerned in the fact that in the
Vertebrates such divisions of the one animal into two, or even replacement of
lost members, as we find in other sub-kingdoms, is no longer possible. The
animal is here one, and indivisible, and that not by simplicity of
organization, as in the Mollusk, but by subjection to one controlling power.
Unity, from the full harmony of many organs and functions, - not the narrow
unity of one prevalent idea, but that which we have seen to. be characteristic
of groups pre-eminently typical - distinguishes the Vertebrate.
The
spiritual idea is easily read here as harmonious obedience, in which is
expressed that integrity or oneness which is indeed the first principle of the
life of faith, and which produces, where it is found the highest development of
every faculty of the soul. Thus in the Vertebrate now every function is
elaborated as in no other type, - digestion and nutrition beyond the Mollusk,
locomotion more perfect though not more various than the Articulate, the
internal support without the immobility of the Radiate. In the circulatory
system a true heart for the first time appears, and becomes a new centre of
force in the body. Sensation is correspondingly awake, as the blood reddens,
and the nerve-power manifests itself in a new energy and directness of
application. How many pages could one write upon the spiritual meaning of all
this! Yet I shall not; for my object is not to sermonize but to bring my reader
face to face with the God of nature for himself, when the application will be
easy. These types are wonderfully full, detailed, and life like pictures,
needing little help to understand them, when once we are in a responsive
attitude of soul. What wonder, when in them God has written, not for the
philosophers, but the whole race of man, just as He has written His other book
of revelation. Near enough to Natures heart, we shall find that it is
God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Heart of
Nature.
Go To Eleventh (last) Chapter
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